"Were you shy or aggressive as a child?" - C.B., Italy

I think psychologists say I was "passive aggressive". I was shy and reserved for the most part, but if someone embarrassed me I would physically attack them, even if they were much bigger than I was. If I couldn't hurt them directly, then I would try to hurt them indirectly, by destroying something that belonged to them for example. I didn't care if they knew it was me who hurt them or not. It only mattered to me that they suffered.

As a child, I never tried to hurt anyone who did not hurt me first. I was not a bully, nor did I ever hurt animals or destroy things for no reason.

As a very young child (six years old) I did set fire to a school dumpster once. But, I only did it because someone else had been setting fires in our neighborhood and I was copying the behavior. After I saw the damage I had caused I felt bad and never did it again, even though I didn't get caught.